Camping at Highland Hammonks

We went camping right after D came home. We brought the family along. Okay, okay we went together :) Beside Bryan getting dragged along, I think everyone had a good time. Highlands has some nice trails to hike, but the mosquitoes would eat you alive. The sites are really nice.

Of course there was a tree that was just hanging there, all nice and beautiful, long and strong, and what do boys do?!?!


Here is Jimmylee trying to hang with the boys....

I have to admit, I think my daughter helped Bryan get out of his funk. By the end of the trip I think he somewhat had a good time- even girlless-Family photo opp
Yeah...I think she might have had something to with it. Yeah, he likes her.
So stinking cute!
Self portrait on the skinny boardwalk . Kind of scary with the kid. Especially when on the bank across the way is a big alligator.
Dude, I just realized my head look huge.

Me and Leneey hanging out in our chairs.
So cute in her chair.
Everyone hanging out.
So funny...Mom, O'lena, and I went biking and what do we see...Ricky Raccoon! A very talented Ricky. When we first started watching he was eating a piece of bread on the fence and then he jumped on to the dumpster, lifted the top, jumped in, got another piece of bread, then came back out and ate his meal. We couldn't believe it. Very talented!

Camping..always fun.

Goings on

So thing have been going around here. Nothing too exciting but stuff is a happening. The pictures will help me tell all the events.
I got my hairs cut last week. Of course it looks great in this picture but I haven't been able to get it look anything like this since. The bangs are fun though.Well the septic tank has been acting ummm "funny." After pumping it out TWICE, we have figured out that our drain field is not draining the rain water when it pours. It just POURS right back in. It seems to just been an issue during the raining season though. We are sucking it up and not getting it fixed, so that means we are saving water as much as possible. And one way Derick is doing that is to take showers outside. (The water goes on to the ground not the septic tank. )
Yeah, that's not bath water!

Aww this picture is better. Lena pushing her car on a walk around the neighborhood. She is getting big. Tall and heavy.
This is a picture of her taking a picture of herself. She was having fun playing with her mommy's "apple." At first i thought she was calling my phone that because she has a game on it that has an apple on it, but someone pointed out that there is an apple on back that she sees (it is an iPhone.) So now it is mommy's "apple." (yes, she does know what a real apple is.)
Another very exciting thing is that she got her own new potty!!! She has been practicing sitting and reading her books on it. She gets a sticker when she sits. She actually went pee-pee the other day!!!! I was so shock and excited that I scared her. She is working on it at school now too. We may have a potty trained girl here soon!
So Derick left me for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!! He went prairie dog hunting with his dad and brother in Colorado. He did have a blast but I think he was glad to come home. We missed him terribly. Me and O'lena really just got to know each other while he was gone, but we were very happen when he came home. Here is some pictures that I got from him from his trip. I have played this one up from my phone. I love that app.
He is actually talking to me on the phone right here. He is looking cool in all his hunting gear. I might have to talk him into posting about his trip. From what he told me they had a good time, only one run in with the law, one crazy-almost shot someone shot, and several hundred dead prairie dogs.
Mommy and O'lena. She was eating her dinner, if you cant tell.

Brannon turned 18!!!!!! Can you believe it?! I can not. I remember when he was born. Spaghetti dinner at Rosemary's was a blast. Brannon and Bryan has both started at FGCU. They both are enjoying at much as they possibly can. I think Brannon has realized that there is a lot of girl drama in college.
Our friends son had his 1st birthday a couple months back. She was wear the sponge-bob hat. We thought it was cute.
This is a picture of O'lena actually being good during church. She is getting better and better. Well except for a couple of weeks ago where she got fed up and ran to the door and started banging her head against it, then wailing because it hurt. All this DURING SACRAMENT!
I am trying to think of anything else...There is always stuff going on, I just cant remember it when it is time to write it down.

I am actually enjoying my job right now! I have a second teacher this year and we have been able to split the students up into a high/low situation. I have the high, Eva has the low. Now when I am talking high, I mean the higher students who are reading about 1st grade (I teach middle school) can add, and are able to write some. They are not up on grade level, but they have some academics. This year has been great because I am not feeling guilty that the kid who is "high" is not being ignored because all my attention need to go to the "low," behavior students. We have done so much already! It is awesome for both groups. Now if my school would shape up, I might not want to leave any more....right...

What else?.... O'lena moved up at her school. She is now in the two year old room. She moved up last week. I have started to see a change already. Some for the good, some for the bad. She seems to more whiny than before. Well I think so at least. She is talking and copying like crazy. She is showing more preferences and she is understanding a lot more. The girl doesn't forget either. "Out of sight, out of mind" doesn't work for my child.

Oh man! Have you seen the new fall line up. It is the first time in years I actually want to watch TV. There is something on every night that I want to see. So much for going to bed early any more. Yeah that reminds me too... I was being so good with my P90X. Up every morning at 5:30, working out. I even did it every morning while Derick was gone. I was just seeing results....then....Derick came home. For some reason, and I am not blaming him, after he came back, I seem not to be able to get myself out of the bed any more. It was a fight before but I had some will power and motivation, now nothing. I just don't care nor want to. It was weird. Maybe next week....

Oh, fun kid story....so on Friday last week was BB King's birthday, right. The reason why I know this is because they did this big thing on the announcements that morning. Well come to find out one of my students, actually it was more but one just spoke up, thought it was Burger King's birthday!! hahahahaha That is the difference on what they hear and applying their background knowledge. Okay so it is probably more funny to DHH people than normal people but it made us laugh. After my comparative lesson I bet you my kids know who BB King is now!!

That's it for now. :)

Westgate River Ranch

For the Fourth of July this year the parents decided to go camping instead of having their big party. I know many of people who were upset, but for us it was enjoyable. Great pictures to share! The best part.......they were taken on my iPhone!!!

O'lena got a new chair from Oma and Opa! Isnt she cut in her princess camping chair just like everyone else!
On dady's head!!
Bryan, Kevyn, and Bryan's girlfriend Ashley went horse back riding. I got this one pic. They said they had a good time. Not too exciting though, they weren't were allowed to go faster than a walk.
We also went on a swamp buggy ride...Well I guess I better fill you in on this place! It is called Westgate River Ranch. It is outside of Lake Wales, FL. It is more of a resort catering to people who want a country, ranch style vacation than an actual camp ground catering people who want to camp. They have a resort part, stables, rodeo, petting zoo, golf, skeet shooting, swamp buggy, air boats, breakfast with the cowboys, cattle, horse, I believe there were buffalo too, but I didnt see them. They also have a camping area which was were we stayed. It was nice, but felt more like and after thought. Normally the places that are built for camping are...built for camping. This was built as a resort and has a camping area. We enjoyed it though. I was impressed that there was hardly any mosquitoes, but the flies made up for it! There were way too many of them. Maybe it was all the cow dung in the fields :)
Here is a pic of O'lena, Opa (Jim) and I on the swamp buggy ride. I am totally sporting my new hat. I love that thing. I love the fact that it keeps the sun out of my face :)
My brother thought it would be funny to put O'lena's socks on her pig tails. Funny Bry....
Kevyn has a secret nick name now....horse whisperer...I guess it is not a secret anymore. You should have seen him...he would walk up to the fields and the horses would line up to get a rub down from him. They would nip at each other to be next. It was crazy. He has really taken to them too. He has a new interest and has pursued trying to get a job at a stable. I think it would be totally cool if he gets it.
Here is Leeny eating her chips and dip. It is one of her new things she likes to eat. She would dip it in, eat of the dip, then stick the chip back in. It was great.
Well what happened was...i was on my way to go swimming pushing O'lena in her car but she had fallen asleep and I got lost and it started to rain, so I found a bench-covered with spiders mind you- sat down and let her take a nap while the rain stopped and someone found me. This place was big and I only knew how to get to the pool from the camp site, but we were someone else when I started out and had no idea how to get where I wanted to go from where i was. I got a bit frustrated too, I admit.

On Saturdays night they have a real rodeo. It was very cool. I haven't seen one in many many years. O'lena loved it. She loved watching all the horses go around the rink. Here is a pic of the family and grandparents just before the start of the festivities. Still sporting the hat.

Daddy and O'lena getting into the show. She was so intent. She also got her first exposure to popcorn and loved that too.
Oh man! I haven't told you the best part!!!! So it came to pass...hahahaha...My mother's mother, sister, her husband, and 3 or their 4 kids came down to camp with us from North Carolina. I knew they were coming but we kept it a secret from Bryan and Kevyn. It was great! You should have seen their faces when we were like..."We better go meet our neighbors because we will be camping right next to them for several days" and out pop their cousins who live states away. They thought it was great too. My other aunt and uncle came out too later that evening. It was one big mini family reunion. It was a blast. Here is a picture of all of us.
Kevyn the hose whisper. Here are all the horses lined up getting ready for their attention.
One of my more favorite moments was watching O'lena playing mini golf. She would just walk around pick up the balls and throw them. She eventually learned to put them in the hole so then she was giving everyone holes in one. It was so funny.
O'lena's great grandmother bought her a pony ride. If she could talk where she was understandable, she would still be talking about it. She had a blast! We must have walked around that circle about 50 times. I was getting dizzy but she was loving it.
Here she is clapping because is having such a good time.
O'lena feeding the baby goat. She was really good about allowing the animals to lick the food out of her hands.

Here is the first thing she saw when she walked into the zoo. Can you believe it?! It is a pony O'lena size. That thing was so little. I think I have only seen them in movies. It took her a while to warm up to him but eventually we got her to pet him. It was really funny too because we had to go into a different gate to get into the other part of the zoo and we guess the mini horse wanted to go into too for he pushed my grandmother right out of the way and barged right threw. We weren't sure if he was allowed to go in or not and there was no one to ask but he seemed he knew what he was doing. I guess it is like anything....square your shoulders, walk right in, look like you own the place and no one will bother you.

Another picture of the rodeo. You can see the people on the horses and flags if you look close.

I love this picture. She enjoyed eating Oreos that weekend. To bad I only bought one package because I think she ate a third of them.T
This was actually on the way camping, we had stopped to eat at pizza hut. I swear she must have eaten 5 pieces of pizza.
Here she is being cute in daddy's hat at the restaurant. This is O'lena version of play Put Put. She was so stinking cute!! Like I said she would pick up anybody's ball and throw it down the hole. Her favorite was the pink one. Everyone did a great job just letting her play. I really appreciated it. I think they had fun too. I know she did. It is kind of hard to see. I need to learn to turn my phone so they record the right way. Still working on that.

I havent forgot about you...

I haven't forgot about you. Actually...everyday I say to myself..."Whitney you need to update your blog." I just have such a methodical out look on it and I cant do one thing out of order. I like having everything chronologically and sometimes that is just a pain. Oh well. I am writing to tell you that I am working on three actual postings at once. SOOOO once they make it up it will be alot to look at.

Graduations!

Can you believe it!!!! I can not! The little pipsqeeks that I used to boss around and get into arguments with when they would hit me have graduated from high school!! I feel so old! And so proud! They both have become wonderful young men and have so much potential to be come great men.
We had a double dose of graduations that day. First was Brannon (my dad and stepmom's son.) He graduated from my Alma Mater. Of course my pictures are backwards. After his was Bryan's (my mother's and step-father's son.) He graduated from a rival school but he graduated. They both did a great job walking across the stage. No one tripped and I think they even smiled. Here are some after pics.

First Bryan's. Picture of the family. Don't you love Derick's purse?!

Bryan with the parents and grand parents.
The brothers! I think this is the best picture of the two of them together I have ever seen. I believe Kevyn was proud of his brother but he wont say it. Maybe he would...they surprise me everyday.
Here are the pictures from Brannon's graduation. He is here with John Howard, the baby cousin in the family. Yeah...Don't tell Brannon but I think John Howard might have gotten taller than him. Brannon always bragged about how tall he was going to be. I think he might have end up being on the shorter side of the Meredith cousins and he is 6-3 or something close to that now.
B&W. He is the sibling I look most like. We have the same bone structure. But I didn't get the height either. I am wearing 3 in heels :(
Brannon with the grand parents. They were so proud.
Brannon and cousin Jacque.
Still cant believe they are going to college! Both of them are going to FGCU next year. Brannon is going into engineering and right now Bryan is looking into teaching. They are growing up!!